PARENT FORWARD: Ten things all kids deserve

Papa encourages Collin, 4, and Robert, 2, to share their toys during their Aunt Jill's Fitchburg State University Graduation.

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Parent Forward By Bonnie J. Toomey

Maybe all of us should take a page out of the United Nations playbook when it comes to our children while we tighten our belts a little and open our hearts.

This year alone the United States government has seen an influx of twice as many immigrant children coming across the U.S. border from countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Many of these children are fleeing violence, exploitation and poverty in their homelands to reconnect with relatives in the United States. And yet some Americans would rather not look into the eyes of these children and instead join in a vitriol screaming "deportation!" to countries where these defenseless children cannot even depend on their own governments to protect them.

Bonnie Toomey

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How far are we willing to go as a country to help these kids in need? The U.S. has laws in place for those people who are seeking asylum from persecution in their own countries. One good reason we should not have a force field-style border.

These children are seeking humanitarian relief under a system set up by the previous administration to handle 6,000 children, not almost 60,000 apprehended without their parents this year by Border Patrol. Now, to put it into perspective, place your child in the same scene.

This week, Grandparentingplus.com, founded by June Solnit Sale and Laurie Sale -- mother-and-daughter bloggers and staunch advocates for children -- posted a declaration in support of children worldwide.

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"With all the turmoil in the news about children and their rights, we felt this was the perfect time to post this important statement from the United Nations," they wrote.

I read one news report stating that some children younger than preschool have been processed.

As I read the 10 precepts of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, as all good parents understand, caring for a child starts in the heart of home, and support systems found in friends and community are crucial, and the policies we live and breathe by are supposed to be in place to protect our children.

But not all children have the luxury of living under these sacred tenets put forth by the United Nations. HuffingtonPost.com recently listed Guatemala and El Salvador in the top five most dangerous countries, with Honduras ranking No. 1 with a homicide rate of 90 per 10,000, double that of the previously mentioned nations.

It's a hard-and-fast reminder to be grateful for what we have and at the same time to open our hearts to the plight of immigrant children who are coming across the border alone and frightened. These children are running for their lives. They are not here to take away our things or our services.

In a March article, "20 Ways Americans Are Blowing Their Money," Americans pay a premium for cable TV, use 1 percent of their total spending on alcohol and spend more money on candy at Halloween than we can eat. The article points to our shameless waste of food.

"USA Today reported, "According to the National Resources Defense Council, Americans waste $165 billion annually by tossing away unwanted snacks and meals. The math works out to approximately $529 per person each year."

The same story highlighted our desire to spend money on cute designer clothes for babies, while we are ready, willing and able to pay extra for the speedy shipping of those items along with all the other things we are so good at consuming, even if those things don't last. Babies grow fast.

But to many of the unfortunate children who are trying to escape persecution in their homelands, the word "luxury" simply means finding a safe place to sleep and food to eat, and maybe daring to dream of a word that sounds like hope.

In 2012, California's Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera launched "The Most Incredible and Biggest and Most Amazing Poem on Unity in the World."

The project has been gathering submissions of poetry, words of affirmation and stories from everybody. Herrera, the first-ever Chicano poet laureate hopes that "The Most Incredible and Biggest and Most Amazing Poem on Unity in World" will expose everybody - not just Californians - to poetry. In October, Herrera will unveil the body of community work in a multimedia installation at Capitol Park in Sacramento.

He compared the poem to a renga -- the 1,000-year-old Japanese form of shared writing between many collaborators. Let's take a page out of Herrera's playbook as well.

In a 2012 University of California "Riverside Today" article, Herrera told Lillideshan Bose, "Unity means different things to me. [It means] less violence, more togetherness and harmony -- and all the things we feel in our lives that we wish we had more of."

Until we can come together we cannot live on this great green earth in peace. Let's start one child at a time. Let's be a part of breaking the cycle of violence and poverty by opening our arms to the children.

In 1959 The Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 1386 (XIV); it follows in plain-language version.

1. All children have the right to what follow, no matter what their race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, or where they were born or to whom they were born.

2. You have the special right to grow up and to develop physically and spiritually in a healthy and normal way, free and with dignity.

3. You have the right to a name and to be a member of a country.

4. You have the right to care and protection, and to good food, housing and medical services.

5. You have the right to special care if handicapped in any way.

6. You have the right to love and understanding, preferably from parents and family, but form the government where these cannot help.

7. You have the right to go to school for free, to play, and to have an equal chance to develop yourself and to learn to be responsible and useful. Your parents have special responsibilities for your education and guidance.

8. You have the right always to be among the first to get help.

9. You have the right to be protected against cruel acts or exploitation, e.g. you shall not be obliged to do work which hinders your development, both physically and mentally.

10. You shall be taught peace, understanding, tolerance, and friendship among people.

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